Prof. Dr. Kirill Bolotin

While the 20th century was the age of electronics, the emerging quantum technologies may dominate the 21st century. To realize technologies including quantum computers, quantum communication and quantum sensing, it is necessary to create physical systems with controllable quantum-mechanical Hamiltonians. Recently discovered two-dimensional materials such as graphene, a monolayer of carbon atoms, are uniquely suitable for this task. Every atom in 2D materials belongs to the surface. Because of that, these materials are uniquely sensitive to the state of the interface, presence of foreign atom or molecules, electrical and magnetic fields at their surface. The mission of the Bolotin lab is to develop the tool to turn the experimental “knobs” in the Hamiltonians of 2D materials and to study the resulting physical phenomena.

We fabricate, pattern, and contact 2D materials such as graphene, monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and monolayer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN).We than explore the effects of ultra-strong electrical fields, mechanical strain, chemical intercalation and functionalization of 2D materials. Our goal is to discover new electronic phases, phase transitions, and to ultimately control the Hamiltonians of 2D materials. We also seek applications of resulting systems in quantum electronics, sensing, and photoconversion.

Our main experimental tools are nanofabrication (we run a dedicate cleanroom with nanofabrication equipment), low temperature electrical transport, optoelectronics, and nanomechanics measurements. We also like to build setups that miniaturize complex experimental tools on a single nanofabricated chip. For example, we develop technologies to cut, apply mechanical strain, deposit molecules on atom-thick 2D materials, in vacuum and at cryogenic temperatures.